TODAY: Ruble reaches new low, Western sanctions hit oil producers; Russia to create a crisis fund to help targeted companies; Dozhd producer attacked; United Russia wins most seats in election; Lebedev bank searched; watchdog to log bloggers’ info’; Vkontakte hacked. The ruble hit a new record low against the dollar yesterday, of 38 rubles per […]

Doug Bandow writes in the American Spectator about the case of our client Georges Tadonki, who challenged political corruption in Zimbabwe and paid for it with his job. In 2008 Tadonki had been on station for six years and predicted epidemics of both cholera and violence. Journalist Peta Thornycroft interviewed Tadonki at the time, concluding […]

Tadonki brought a wrongful termination claim against the UN after the organization effectively fired him in early 2009. The UN’s bulletproof legal immunity necessitates an unusual system for adjudicating such cases. Because the UN cannot be sued, tribunals convened by the UN itself deal with employment claims, pseudo-courts that don’t adhere to several important aspects of accepted U.S. and European legal procedure.

It’s one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of precious metals and natural resources. It’s also an ungoverned Wild West drawing in competing militias into prolonged bloody wars, and soon, possibly the neighboring states competing for influence. Welcome to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The list is our attempt to respond to what we see as a relatively underdeveloped marketplace of ideas when it comes to scenario planning for expropriation, unfair regulatory intervention, nationalizations, and resource nationalism events that have an impact on foreign investors in emerging markets.

Russia News Blast

TODAY: Lavrov promises full investigation into Nemtsov murder; Putin loyalist appointed head of investigation; main witness flies to Kiev, says she saw nothing; Ukrainian lawmaker to sue Kremlin after arrest; Navalny request to attend Nemtsov funeral denied; Russians to spend half of income on food; death toll in Ukraine passes 6,000.

TODAY: Tens of thousands march in Moscow in honor of murdered Boris Nemtsov; Poroshenko says Nemtsov was about to release evidence of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine crisis; Nemtsov’s final interview given just hours before his death; Putin vows to find and punish killers; Fridman hires former BP exec; Pugachyov ordered to reveal trust income.